Distorts at high volumes on deep bass. Audio could use more high-frequency clarity.

Bottom Line

The Divoom Voombox Outdoor delivers solid audio at moderate volume levels and can also get quite loud for its size, but the power can bring distortion.

At $99.99, the Divoom Voombox Outdoor is a rugged Bluetooth speaker in a crowded field. Its splash-proof design and ability to get quite loud are certainly positives, but it suffers from a tendency to distort at top volumes on bass-heavy tracks is not ideal, and its lack of high frequency clarity is a bit disappointing. If your budget can extend a bit beyond the $100 barrier, there are much stronger options in the outdoor-friendly, portable Bluetooth speaker realm.

DesignWith a rugged, splash-proof IP44-rated design, the Voombox Outdoor is ideal for poolside music listening. The 3 by 7.2 by 2.3-inch, 1.5-pound rectangular speaker is available in red, black, green, or blue, and features six drivers delivering a total of 15W of power. While its relatively bulky build may weigh down a purse or tote, its size makes it ideal for stowing in a carry-on or camping pack.

Rubber panels line the sides of the Voombox Outdoor, and a control panel is situated at the top of the speaker with Bluetooth, Play/Pause, Power, and Volume Up/Down buttons. The volume controls also hand track navigation, and the Play/Pause button accepts and ends calls when using the built-in speakerphone feature.

Divoom rates the Voombox Outdoor's battery life at approximately 12 hours, but your results will vary based upon your volume levels. The speaker is NFC-enbled, but pairing via the Bluetooth menu on your device is alos a quick, simple process.

PerformanceOn tracks with powerful sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Voombox Outdoor delivers a solid sense of deep bass at moderate volumes, but it distorts when pushed to its loudest levels. This isn't a terrible shock given the modest pricing of the speaker, but we have heard competing models in this price range avoid distortion issues. To be fair, the Voombox Outdoor also gets quite loud for a speaker this size and price, so it's trade-off between potential distortion and higher volume output.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with very little in the way of deep bass, sounds quite rich through the Voombox Outdoor. His baritone vocals get perhaps a bit too much boosting in the low-mids, and not quite enough high-mid defintion to even it out. Things don't quite sound muddy, but there's a definite lean toward the richer lows; the speaker could really benefit from some crisper definition in the higher frequencies.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets just enough high-mid edge for its attack to retain some of its sharpness, but it doesn't slice through the layers of the mix with as much ease as it does when there's more high-mid sculpting at play. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are more implied than delivered here—we get a sense of their power, but the raspy top-notes sound a tad muffled and the power of the deep bass isn't fully realized through the Voombox Outdoor's modest drivers.

The Voombox Outdoor is a great poolside speaker if you specifically need something water-resistant that can also get loud. If you're after a better sense of bass and clarity, most of our favorite Bluetooth options cost a bit more, but the UE Boom 2, the Braven BRV-Pro, and significantly more expensive (and not as weather-resistant) Bose SoundLink Mini II are all worth checking out. And if all of these are too expensive for your tastes, consider the very solid, compact $50 JBL Clip+—a steal in terms of quality and price.